Many hand tools that in the past were purely mechanical are now being replaced by motorized hand tools that perform the same function more quickly and with less effort by the user. Examples of conventional electrically powered hand tools are screwdrivers, drills, routers, sanders and a variety of saws, such as jigsaws, reciprocating saws and circular saws.
Existing hand tools suffer from a number of deficiencies. For instance, hand tools, by their very nature are portable and thus easily stolen from job sites or storage areas. With battery powered tools, the weight of the tool is often excessive for comfortable extended use. Conventional electrically powered tools also do not allow the user to optimize the tool for use with the particular user's preferences, or with the specific requirements of a particular project or operating condition. For example, many tools are not adequately flexible in their operation to accommodate particular tasks easily and conveniently. By way of example, drill/drivers are used to drill holes and drive screws, however, existing designs do not always accomplish these functions in the most efficient or reliable matter. When driving screws, for instance, it is often difficult to accurately control the depth of the screw with existing drills. Similarly, existing drills do not provide sufficient control of torque, speed and/or number of revolutions. In some applications, the physical configuration of the drill is not well suited to allow access to the work sites. Various embodiments of the present invention address one or more of these and other deficiencies.
Many features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description which follows and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which preferred embodiments incorporating the principles of this invention are disclosed as illustrative examples only.